The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Innovate UK are encouraging UK cities and businesses to apply for a £10million fund in a competition that will revolutionise the way the Internet of Things (IoT) benefits citizens by offering environmental improvements, economic opportunities, and more efficient and effective delivery of services such as transport, healthcare and energy.
Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey said: "The IoT is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives. The UK technology sector is renowned for its creativity and pioneering research and development. This competition will be instrumental in discovering new connections between city services and their users, and identifying many more advantages that the IoT could offer."
A recent report by Arup estimates that the global value of the IoT sector will exceed £255bn a year by 2020. Cities can use IoT to improve services for their citizens, increase quality of life and make better-informed decisions more quickly.
Nick Appleyard, Innovate UK's deputy director for government partnerships, said: "The UK has the opportunity to become a world-leader in this sector, boosting the economy and creating the jobs of tomorrow."
£10m is being offered for a single collaborative research and development project to demonstrate the capability of IoT in a city region. The competition is part of a wider £40m government investment in IoT announced in March 2015.
Projects must be collaborative and led by a local authority or local enterprise partnership (or an equivalent body outside England). Projects should involve at least one local authority, one local enterprise partnership and several businesses. Deadline for registration is at noon on 23 September 2015, with the deadline for applications at noon on 30 September 2015.
Author
Tom Austin-Morgan
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk